Key facts
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the consumer price index rose 0.4% from September to October, after a 0.6% monthly rise in September.
- The bureau did not publish a year-over-year CPI figure because data was not collected in October 2025 during the government shutdown.
- AAA put the average US gasoline price at $4.22 a gallon at the end of October, down from $4.41 at the start of the month.
- AAA said gasoline remained more than $1 a gallon higher than a year earlier, and diesel nearly $2.50 higher.
- Fed chair Kevin Warsh said on October 28 the central bank aims to keep relative price changes from broadening across the economy.
- University of Michigan's Joanne Hsu said sentiment fell 5% for consumers with the largest stock portfolios.
US consumer prices rose 0.4% from September to October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on November 10, 2026, slower than the 0.6% monthly increase recorded in September. The agency did not release its usual year-over-year inflation figure because data was not collected in October 2025 during the government shutdown.
Energy costs tied to the Iran war have been the main driver of higher inflation, which the report said has been above an annualized 3% since the war began in late February. Inflation reached 4.2% in May, a three-year high, before moving between 3.4% and 3.7%. Energy prices rose again in October, though by less than in September.
AAA data cited in the report put the average US gasoline price at $4.22 a gallon at the end of October, down from $4.41 at the start of the month, but still more than $1 a gallon above a year earlier. Diesel was nearly $2.50 a gallon higher than a year earlier.
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates in September for the first time since 2023, and the report said rates are expected to rise again at the December meeting. Fed chair Kevin Warsh said on October 28: "Our job is to ensure that relative price changes in some sectors do not broaden across the economy, and that inflation expectations remain as they are anchored."
The University of Michigan's Survey of Consumers showed sentiment rising slightly at the end of October as gasoline prices eased. Joanne Hsu, director of the Surveys of Consumers, said sentiment fell 5% for consumers with the largest stock portfolios, adding that "consumers' comments revealed growing anxiety over a possible AI bubble."